Big Standmounters for Under £100? for student room

I didnt want to have the hassle/risk of normal speakers to uni this year. So, i'm looking for something for under £100, and perhaps at the lower end of that budget, it depends.

I'm thinking some big standmounts with quite big drivers, I want something that can kick out the jams when needed. I have some stands already. I also preferably want something something that sounds good at quite close range when im lying in/on bed. i guess i just want some old school big standmounts with some decent bass for my student digs, yet with reasonable finesse.

Amp will be arcam alpha 10, and alpha 8 cdp with superdac.

I was thinking along the lines of maybe some tannoy 609's, other tannoy dual concentrics, or MS30's. I saw some celestion DL8's in cash converters a while ago, sealed 8" driver and looked reasonable, if a bit overpriced.

Any expereince of the above/recommendations guys?

 

maybe B&W601 2

 

crank them up and have a party..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-Pair-of-Cer...817652825QQcategoryZ14993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cerwin-Vega-D...816491648QQcategoryZ86805QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

A 2 inch tear that doesn't effect the sound. I'd have thought it would

 

1/2 inch tear dude.

i wouldnt think you'd be able to hear it much. besides, party speakers like those - stick gaffa tape on the back of the cone and crank it, spill beer on it, crisps and pizza on it, and stubb cigarettes on the top.

 

I'm going mad! I'm sure it said 2 inch :shame:

 

yeah, if it's a for a halls / student room - you dopn't want anything too flash, just something that can handle all the parties...!!

 

I'd certainly recommend considering a pair of Kef Model 104AB if you can find a pair. Deep, lucid and funky and good for parties.

 

Tempted by some Vega's but think they may be a step too far, im supposed to knuckle down this year and work, as if. Still, i reckon they will be too loutish, and the cost, especially postage will be too much.

Will want something with some finesse for all those late night essays etc.

B&W Dm601's and 602's seem to have held their value well. i auditioned some 602 s2 a long time ago,a nd seem to remember lots of bass, but that it was rather flabby? Is this the case? are they overated?
Otherwise perhaps 602's would be good, although they still fetch quite a lot.

I Know that i asked for it, i forgot how big standmounters can get. The Cerwins and jamo's are a bit too big! The room is allready cramped and im not sure where id put them.

Kef 104ab's look interesting, might be able to squeeze them, a few on ebay at the moment. Still a bit too large though, mostly in width, to fit in the room.

 

Perhaps try some jaMOs? Ebay throws back a few results such as...

15inch driver? Galeforce 35s...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jamo-D266-Hig...817233777QQcategoryZ14993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-Jamo-Galefo...817558202QQcategoryZ14993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And a pair of the 25 version....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/pair-of-Jamo-...816579202QQcategoryZ14996QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There's a few others on there if you search.

 

Those Jamos will be horrid if my D165s (a smaller version with an 8 inch bass driver) were anything to go buy, bass is horrifically flabby, mid range recesssed, treble very sharp - I replaced mine with B&W 602s and never looked back. Yes the Jamos will go loud, but at the end of the day most decent 'real' hifi speakers will go louder than you'll be able to listen to in halls anyway.

B&W 602s might be a bit of a stretch for £100, might get lucky though! They do seem to keep their value very well, it seems that I could just about sell my pair of S1 602s for about what they cost me s/h!

As for how they sound, well they do kick out lots of bass for a standmount, just a little bit flabby though to be honest (not especially so for their new price point though I feel, and the extra extension bass over say, Quad 11Ls, is worth it IMHO). Treble on the Series 1 is a little bright maybe, but Arcam is not exactly forward/bright sounding IME so you'd probably be okay.

I had mine in a tiny student room last year in halls (see below, nearfield listening sucks by the way), did the job as well as anything else that I could've squeezed into the room really...

 

going back to the suggestion of ms30s- i have a pair of the ms30i classics in another system (real wood veneered, tweaked version) and they can certainly kick out the low end no worries! Quite rare on ebay though. You may need to settle for the older MS5.20 or MS25Ti series. Other suggestions- old Monitor Audio R352s, Tannoy M2s (awesome bass) or M2.5s are £70 from RS- i saw a review of these where it claimed they went down to 25hz!

 

Tell you what are great big standmounters, a pair of Tannoy S8Cs - yes I know they are "centres" but no different to the S8LRs (apart from slightly different orientation of driver).

I think they are absolutely superb - they were on Ebay from Tannoy direct for 60 pounds each, so 120 a pair, but you may well find some 2nd hand as people bought 5 of them for a 5.1 setup, but to be honest they are rather large and heavy as rears. They were about 250-300 each new I think.

The other advantage of them is that as they were designed as centres they are magnetically shielded, so I have one of them butted right up against my 21 inch Computer monitor with no problems at all.

They use the same drivers as the very expensive Tannoy S8s (floorstanders)

Alternatively I've seen some superb Celestions in loot/free-adds, the Celestion 7s and 9s, this was way back (well about 10 years ago), when Celestion made some good mid-range speakers. The 7s are real "rocky" speakers, and for the price I've seen them (50 quid for a pair of 9s, and 60 quid for a pair of 7s) you really can't go wrong !

Mark.

 

I think i may have to extend my budget slightly, and look at dm602 s2/s3, maybe even s3 as the price difference seems negligable and s3 have much tighter bass, apparntly. They should hopefully retain their value too. Hopefully they would be a good compromise, besides, im curious to see what they are like. Quite hyped at their pricepoints.

Liked the idea of the Tannoy saturn centres, shame i can't find any to have a look at.

 

I think you'd find the Kef's would better the B&W's - depending what kind of presentation you are looking for of course.

 

Angus, I'm not selling my Tannoy S8Cs - but if you wanted to hear a pair, I also live in Essex and would be more than willing to do a demo.

I'm sure if you did a WTD for a pair of S8Cs you find some.

Also in Essex local adds, there was (but thrown paper away) a pair of DM602 S1s - with some cosmetic damage to one speaker (but no damage to speaker cones) for 50 quid, don't know whether they've gone or not now.


Mark.

 

I think i might have to give up with the b&w's, I bid for a pair of 602 s3's with a slightly dented tweeter and someone payed £207 with £35 packaging to pay. S2's seem to go for upto £175 and s3's £235.

Seems a bit crazy if you ask me!

Thanks for the offer Mark, but im rather busy and away at uni at the moment, will keep my eyes peeled though.

So can anyone vouch for the 104ab's, they may be a little wide. The specs claim 30hz to 40,00hz which seems impressive. Can that be true, i thought older models rolled off at the top. Im sure the bass is great though, if its anything at all like the celestion ditton 15's with abr's that i once heard.

 

They're quite large as standmounts go and obviously they're pretty old, and it might be hard to find a good pair, but soundwise they do very audibly go deep, they have a rather pleasant balance across the mid-range, the treble response is on the smooth side but they do detail pretty well.

Most of all I found them very engaging and well balanced at normal listening levels and surprisingly they partied very well (house, techno, dub, etc.).

An old friend knew someone who had a pair - he transferred the drivers to a pair of large custom built cabs. Apparently they truly shook his house. So I think the cabs are their limiting factor really. I paid £100 in 1990 and sold them for £130 in 1995 (regretably).

 

Castle Chesters

 

With a bit of luck I'm going to look at some rogers LS7's advertised at £75 with stands tomorrow.

Seem to be quite well regarded, pricing seems good by the standards of others.